The Water Series will continue on Tuesday, November 26, 19.00, at the Swedish Institute at Athens (Mitseon 9) with the lecture Dewatering systems for wastewater and rain in ancient Egypt by Heidi Köpp-Junk, University of Trier, Germany.
Abstract
An efficient drainage system for rain and used water is very important for every society of a certain size and complexity. Even today, the water discharge is a central issue in Egypt, especially in the global metropolis Cairo. While irrigation is frequently discussed in Egyptology, dewatering systems are only rarely investigated in any detail. Nevertheless, they are an important factor of Egyptian architecture and part of the author’s research since 2002. Whereas no known depictions or textual sources mention these systems, a variety of archaeological finds relating to them is attested. They elucidate the
range and innovativeness as well as the high quality of ancient Egyptian engineering skills long before the arrival of Roman techniques. The lecture gives an overview of where dewatering systems are attested and how they worked from the Old Kingdom in the 3rd millennium BC to the Graeco-Roman period.